Technical Abstract:
Aqueous dispersions of high amylose starch were steam jet cooked and blended with aqueous solutions of sodium palmitate to generate amylose sodium palmitate helical inclusion complexes. This preparative method allows sufficient quantities of these complexes to be prepared to examine their properties. Cooled aqueous dispersions of these complexes possess unique rheological properties that are dependent upon the starch concentration used in the jet cooking process can be varied from low-viscosity liquids (at 3.75 % and 5.99 % solids) to gels (at 6.64 % solids). Low viscosity dispersions were also found to be dependent upon pH and they became quite viscous upon addition of acid. We examined these amylose sodium palmitate complexes to prepare oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by the complexes. Initial experiments showed that the jet cooked dispersions functioned as dispersants for vegetable oils, when the oil was blended into the aqueous dispersions. Also, acidification of the resulting blends yielded aqueous gels containing high concentrations of dispersed oil droplets. These oil-in-water dispersions could have practical applications in foods, lotions and water-based lubricants and this presentation will discuss the preparation, characterization, and properties of the amylose sodium palmitate inclusion complexes and their effectiveness to emulsify vegetable oils in water.